When “Fred” came for a hypnosis session to help him get ready to have his kidney removed he did not realize just how dramatic the results would be.
Since unconscious minds think in dreamlike images, stories, and analogies, metaphors and imagery are some of the most powerful tools of a hypnotherapist. Some of those images and metaphors can also make sense, or even seem obvious, to the conscious mind.
While Fred was in trance, I offered his unconscious mind the metaphor of making plumbing repairs as a way to encourage it to slow down his bleeding during surgery. It is an obvious move to turn off the water while working on the plumbing. It would be very hard to make the repairs with water gushing all over the place. This metaphor would be considered an indirect suggestion, technically speaking.
After offering Fred the metaphor, I gave Fred some direct suggestions about reducing bleeding during his surgery. His unconscious mind was directed to stop the blood flow to the areas being worked on during the surgery, letting only enough blood through to keep the tissues healthy. Once the repairs were complete, the circulation was to be restored to normal.
As a result of his hypnosis session, Fred's surgery was about two hours shorter than planned, and he needed no blood transfusion during the procedure!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Hypnosis for People With a “Don't Tell Me What To Do!” Attitude
It is an interesting contradiction.
People who have a reflexive “Don't tell me what to do!” response will try sometimes hypnosis to eliminate a bad habit. Let's take someone who wants to quit smoking, for example. They hope to be hypnotized into doing something that they both want to do (stop smoking), and do not want to do (stop smoking). It is safe to assume that at least on some unconscious level they want to continue smoking, or they would already be nonsmokers.
They think that since they have not been able to consciously command themselves into being nonsmokers that if they hire someone to hypnotize them deeply enough, who can give them suggestions that “strong” enough, they will be forced into quitting. Basically, they want a hypnotherapist to use the very same strategy from the outside that has failed so completely when they used it from the inside.
And, of course, they respond to direct suggestions like, “You are now a nonsmoker. The thought of smoking is mildly unpleasant, etc.” with an unconscious “Don't tell me what to do” which defeats those suggestions completely.
So what is a hypnotherapist to do?
Milton Erickson, one of the most creative hypnotherapists of the 20th century, used a different approach with clients who automatically rejected direct suggestions. He offered clients suggestions that he wanted them to actively disagree with.
For example, the hypnotherapist might say to a smoker, “Most people find it very effective to strongly associate all the negative consequences and unpleasant feelings about smoking to the thought of lighting a cigarette, to the thought of lifting a cigarette to the mouth, to the thought of inhaling smoke, to the thought of exhaling the smoke, to the smell of tobacco burning. They make those unpleasant feelings so strong that they just completely stop wanting to smoke. But, I don't think that would work for you. I'm not sure that you are able make the feelings strong enough. I'm not convinced that you can associate those feelings thoroughly enough or strongly enough.”
So what is the automatic response of someone who isn't going to let the hypnotherapist, or anyone else, “tell them what to do”?
“I can too make the unpleasant feeling strong enough that I will stop even wanting to smoke. I'll show you that it will work for me. Don't tell me what I can't do.” The client will stop smoking just to spite the hypnotherapist.
You may notice that the client's defiant response above will also short circuit any feelings of inadequacy or doubts that they are somehow incapable of quitting smoking.
So the client's defiance actually builds an intense emotional energy into accepting and acting on the suggestions that supposedly would work for others, but not for them. This illustrates Erickson's principle of utilization, using the client's unique personality needs to help him or her shift his or her thinking, habits, limiting feelings or behaviors in healthy ways.
People who have a reflexive “Don't tell me what to do!” response will try sometimes hypnosis to eliminate a bad habit. Let's take someone who wants to quit smoking, for example. They hope to be hypnotized into doing something that they both want to do (stop smoking), and do not want to do (stop smoking). It is safe to assume that at least on some unconscious level they want to continue smoking, or they would already be nonsmokers.
They think that since they have not been able to consciously command themselves into being nonsmokers that if they hire someone to hypnotize them deeply enough, who can give them suggestions that “strong” enough, they will be forced into quitting. Basically, they want a hypnotherapist to use the very same strategy from the outside that has failed so completely when they used it from the inside.
And, of course, they respond to direct suggestions like, “You are now a nonsmoker. The thought of smoking is mildly unpleasant, etc.” with an unconscious “Don't tell me what to do” which defeats those suggestions completely.
So what is a hypnotherapist to do?
Milton Erickson, one of the most creative hypnotherapists of the 20th century, used a different approach with clients who automatically rejected direct suggestions. He offered clients suggestions that he wanted them to actively disagree with.
For example, the hypnotherapist might say to a smoker, “Most people find it very effective to strongly associate all the negative consequences and unpleasant feelings about smoking to the thought of lighting a cigarette, to the thought of lifting a cigarette to the mouth, to the thought of inhaling smoke, to the thought of exhaling the smoke, to the smell of tobacco burning. They make those unpleasant feelings so strong that they just completely stop wanting to smoke. But, I don't think that would work for you. I'm not sure that you are able make the feelings strong enough. I'm not convinced that you can associate those feelings thoroughly enough or strongly enough.”
So what is the automatic response of someone who isn't going to let the hypnotherapist, or anyone else, “tell them what to do”?
“I can too make the unpleasant feeling strong enough that I will stop even wanting to smoke. I'll show you that it will work for me. Don't tell me what I can't do.” The client will stop smoking just to spite the hypnotherapist.
You may notice that the client's defiant response above will also short circuit any feelings of inadequacy or doubts that they are somehow incapable of quitting smoking.
So the client's defiance actually builds an intense emotional energy into accepting and acting on the suggestions that supposedly would work for others, but not for them. This illustrates Erickson's principle of utilization, using the client's unique personality needs to help him or her shift his or her thinking, habits, limiting feelings or behaviors in healthy ways.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
NLP Conversational Belief Destroyer Number 2 .05 “Apply to Self”
One of the fun things about learning NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) and hypnotic language patterns is that we can use them to get rid of our own limiting beliefs and patterns of thought.
One of my favorites language patterns is “apply to self”. We start with a sentence in the form of “X means Y” or “X causes Y”. For example, “I have trouble learning NLP language patterns because I lack self confidence”. Obviously, a belief like this would slow down anyone who was learning the NLP language patterns.
Next comes the fun part. We take the first part of the sentence and use the main concept against itself. For example. “How much trouble was it learning that troubled pattern of thinking about easily learning NLP language patterns?”
We can also use the second half of the sentence against itself. “So, for yourself, how much confidence do you lack in those kinds of statements about your learning abilities?”
And, if we are feeling frisky, we can loop both sides of the statement against the other. “How did you ever have enough self confidence to create such a lack of self confidence about your easily learning to use NLP language patterns? It probably wasn't a lot of trouble for you to create a troubling belief about your learning NLP language patterns easily, was it? And that means that you can learn to create new beliefs in your ability to learn without much trouble, doesn't it?”
Many times when I loop a statement against itself with a client who has just uttered one of their limiting beliefs, a look of confusion crosses her or his face. That confusion is an indication that the old belief is losing some, or all of its grip. Typically, limiting beliefs travel in packs. So, it is useful to use the apply to self pattern with the original belief's brothers and sisters as well.
And, of course, when you recognize one of your own limiting beliefs, and it happens not to be in the form of “X means Y” or “X causes Y”, it is simply a matter of restating the belief in that form. Then you can play with it until you feel that moment of confusion, or the belief just seems a bit silly, or just untrue.
The “apply to self” NLP belief buster pattern is like a hammer. A hammer can be used to smash a windshield or build a house. Use the belief buster pattern with compassion and caring, and you will enjoy the results.
One of my favorites language patterns is “apply to self”. We start with a sentence in the form of “X means Y” or “X causes Y”. For example, “I have trouble learning NLP language patterns because I lack self confidence”. Obviously, a belief like this would slow down anyone who was learning the NLP language patterns.
Next comes the fun part. We take the first part of the sentence and use the main concept against itself. For example. “How much trouble was it learning that troubled pattern of thinking about easily learning NLP language patterns?”
We can also use the second half of the sentence against itself. “So, for yourself, how much confidence do you lack in those kinds of statements about your learning abilities?”
And, if we are feeling frisky, we can loop both sides of the statement against the other. “How did you ever have enough self confidence to create such a lack of self confidence about your easily learning to use NLP language patterns? It probably wasn't a lot of trouble for you to create a troubling belief about your learning NLP language patterns easily, was it? And that means that you can learn to create new beliefs in your ability to learn without much trouble, doesn't it?”
Many times when I loop a statement against itself with a client who has just uttered one of their limiting beliefs, a look of confusion crosses her or his face. That confusion is an indication that the old belief is losing some, or all of its grip. Typically, limiting beliefs travel in packs. So, it is useful to use the apply to self pattern with the original belief's brothers and sisters as well.
And, of course, when you recognize one of your own limiting beliefs, and it happens not to be in the form of “X means Y” or “X causes Y”, it is simply a matter of restating the belief in that form. Then you can play with it until you feel that moment of confusion, or the belief just seems a bit silly, or just untrue.
The “apply to self” NLP belief buster pattern is like a hammer. A hammer can be used to smash a windshield or build a house. Use the belief buster pattern with compassion and caring, and you will enjoy the results.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Hypnosis as Intervention, Or Can You Make My Mom Stop Smoking?
Ricki loves her mother, and is understandably concerned for her Mom's health. When Ricki asked me if hypnosis can be used as an intervention to force her Mom to stop smoking, I had a ready answer for her.
Ricki assumed that if she could only get her Mom in the same room with me, I could hypnotize her into stopping smoking. It is a common notion that hypnotists control the minds of the people that they hypnotize. After all, we see all those people in stage shows acting in silly ways. And, it seems like they are being completely obedient to the commands of the hypnotist.
Perhaps the most significant thing that hypnosis stage show audiences miss, is that a number of the participants will not respond to some suggestions from the hypnotist. I was in a participant in a hypnosis stage show once. The hypnotist gave me the suggestion that it would be as if I had itching powder down my back when he snapped his fingers. He snapped and nothing happened. When he had given me the suggestion I thought to myself, “I don't think so.” I was feeling wonderfully relaxed, and was not about to give up those good feelings.
There are good reasons that stage hypnotists have multiple volunteers on stage for their shows. One is that only some of the volunteers will respond dramatically to a particular suggestion, and others will respond slightly or not at all. The audience will of course be focused on the volunteers who are most entertaining. “Look honey, Joe is doing a great Elvis. He's always been so shy!” In the meanwhile, Jane is simply swaying her hips a little, while everyone is watching Joe.
Hypnosis is much more like dancing than a dictatorship. The lady can always refuse to dance in the first place. She can freely choose to dance only waltzes and no tangos. And, if she isn't enjoying dancing with that handsome partner with two left shoes, she can walk off the dance floor at any time.
All experienced hypnotherapists have worked with a client who just sits there passively and says, “Just hypnotize me, tell me to stop smoking, and wake me when it's over”. Those clients are all disappointed with the results of their sessions. Then there are the clients who want to keep smoking. Those clients discover that they had complete choice all along, and they do keep smoking, no matter how deeply into hypnosis they went. And, then there are the clients who are determined to be tobacco free, and who cooperate to the best of their ability. Those clients are delighted to discover that hypnosis makes it easy to eliminate the tobacco habit without any withdrawals, cravings or weight gain.
Sorry, Ricki. It's Mom's choice.
Ricki assumed that if she could only get her Mom in the same room with me, I could hypnotize her into stopping smoking. It is a common notion that hypnotists control the minds of the people that they hypnotize. After all, we see all those people in stage shows acting in silly ways. And, it seems like they are being completely obedient to the commands of the hypnotist.
Perhaps the most significant thing that hypnosis stage show audiences miss, is that a number of the participants will not respond to some suggestions from the hypnotist. I was in a participant in a hypnosis stage show once. The hypnotist gave me the suggestion that it would be as if I had itching powder down my back when he snapped his fingers. He snapped and nothing happened. When he had given me the suggestion I thought to myself, “I don't think so.” I was feeling wonderfully relaxed, and was not about to give up those good feelings.
There are good reasons that stage hypnotists have multiple volunteers on stage for their shows. One is that only some of the volunteers will respond dramatically to a particular suggestion, and others will respond slightly or not at all. The audience will of course be focused on the volunteers who are most entertaining. “Look honey, Joe is doing a great Elvis. He's always been so shy!” In the meanwhile, Jane is simply swaying her hips a little, while everyone is watching Joe.
Hypnosis is much more like dancing than a dictatorship. The lady can always refuse to dance in the first place. She can freely choose to dance only waltzes and no tangos. And, if she isn't enjoying dancing with that handsome partner with two left shoes, she can walk off the dance floor at any time.
All experienced hypnotherapists have worked with a client who just sits there passively and says, “Just hypnotize me, tell me to stop smoking, and wake me when it's over”. Those clients are all disappointed with the results of their sessions. Then there are the clients who want to keep smoking. Those clients discover that they had complete choice all along, and they do keep smoking, no matter how deeply into hypnosis they went. And, then there are the clients who are determined to be tobacco free, and who cooperate to the best of their ability. Those clients are delighted to discover that hypnosis makes it easy to eliminate the tobacco habit without any withdrawals, cravings or weight gain.
Sorry, Ricki. It's Mom's choice.
Friday, September 11, 2009
How NLP and Hypnosis Helped Janet Lose Weight Even Though Her Only Pleasure in Life Was Eating
It all started out as a routine hypnosis weight loss program. But, as the young woman named “Janet” started telling me about her issues with her weight, something very interesting came up. She told me that her only pleasure in life came from eating. That caught my attention, because it seemed like it could be a major roadblock to her dropping those extra pounds.
Of course, my next questions were about what other pleasures she might have in life. Travel was the only one, “But,” she said, “I have an elderly parent at home, and I can't be gone overnight.”
And, the next logical question was,"What did she like about travel?" "Sampling different cuisines" was her answer.
I asked her about sex, since it is one of the more potent pleasures that humans can experience. Janet said she did not care for it, she had been married three times. The chances of success were definitely not looking good for our handsome, and intrepid hypnotherapist at this point.
So my plan was to hypnotically suggest that she expand her pleasure horizons. I told her stories about explorers traveling to new lands and finding delightfully new people, arts, and flowers. And, I made the obvious suggestion that she might find it interesting to take day trips to visit the wonders of Georgia and nearby states.
However, since Janet was so insistent that eating was her only pleasure, I needed a different kind of approach as well. So, I simply challenged her every time she said that she wanted to lose weight. “No you don't. Eating is much more important. It's your only pleasure.”
And, she argued with me stubbornly, and passionately that she DID want to lose weight, that eating was less important, and she did begin to somehow find some other pleasures in life. The more I disagreed with, her the more intense her resistance. And, that was the key. She built up such a huge emotional charge on losing weight that she made it a part of every food and eating decision that she made.
I saw Janet five years later, and she was much thinner than when she had first started her weight control program.
One of the great contributions of NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) to hypnotherapy is that it teaches practitioners to become aware of the relevant behavioral patterns of their clients. When I noticed that Janet had such a strong opposition to being told that she valued eating over thinness, it was a simple matter to help her shift her priorities and values. She was NOT going to let me tell her that eating was more important to her than losing weight. And, she darn well proved it to me.
Of course, my next questions were about what other pleasures she might have in life. Travel was the only one, “But,” she said, “I have an elderly parent at home, and I can't be gone overnight.”
And, the next logical question was,"What did she like about travel?" "Sampling different cuisines" was her answer.
I asked her about sex, since it is one of the more potent pleasures that humans can experience. Janet said she did not care for it, she had been married three times. The chances of success were definitely not looking good for our handsome, and intrepid hypnotherapist at this point.
So my plan was to hypnotically suggest that she expand her pleasure horizons. I told her stories about explorers traveling to new lands and finding delightfully new people, arts, and flowers. And, I made the obvious suggestion that she might find it interesting to take day trips to visit the wonders of Georgia and nearby states.
However, since Janet was so insistent that eating was her only pleasure, I needed a different kind of approach as well. So, I simply challenged her every time she said that she wanted to lose weight. “No you don't. Eating is much more important. It's your only pleasure.”
And, she argued with me stubbornly, and passionately that she DID want to lose weight, that eating was less important, and she did begin to somehow find some other pleasures in life. The more I disagreed with, her the more intense her resistance. And, that was the key. She built up such a huge emotional charge on losing weight that she made it a part of every food and eating decision that she made.
I saw Janet five years later, and she was much thinner than when she had first started her weight control program.
One of the great contributions of NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) to hypnotherapy is that it teaches practitioners to become aware of the relevant behavioral patterns of their clients. When I noticed that Janet had such a strong opposition to being told that she valued eating over thinness, it was a simple matter to help her shift her priorities and values. She was NOT going to let me tell her that eating was more important to her than losing weight. And, she darn well proved it to me.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Hypnosis at a Party, Or How “Jane” Was Able Get Close to a Cat Again
I met “Jane” at a party thrown by a mutual friend. In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she had an allergy to cats. When I suggested that hypnosis can frequently be helpful for allergy relief, Jane became interested, and asked if I could help her out that night at the party.
After a few questions about what was going on with Jane around the time the allergies started, she remembered just when the allergy began. She had a cat that she loved dearly, and she had seen him killed by two dogs. And, she said to herself at that time, “I'll never get close to a cat again.”
This a dramatic example of unintentional self hypnosis. The trauma had put Jane in an altered state of consciousness much like what we commonly think of as hypnosis, and her unconscious mind had taken her suggestion to herself both literally and figuratively.
There is a simple technique from NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) to eliminate a phobia, that works very well for releasing the responses to traumatic memories as well. It involves the person watching the memories of the traumatic event rapidly running backwards repeatedly. Running memories backwards tend to scramble the brain's associations to the original fears or other traumatic emotions. The result is that the memories become emotionally neutral. Jane naturally slipped into a light state of hypnosis as she ran her memories backwards, and that allowed her to something extraordinary.
Once she ran those memories backwards, Jane was able to hold her host's cat in her arms. It was the first time that she had been able to get close to a cat in years.
Of course, not all allergies start with a trauma, which is the reason that multiple hypnosis techniques and approaches have been developed. A hypnotherapist who is skilled in NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis will be able to create a unique approach for a client when the need arises.
After a few questions about what was going on with Jane around the time the allergies started, she remembered just when the allergy began. She had a cat that she loved dearly, and she had seen him killed by two dogs. And, she said to herself at that time, “I'll never get close to a cat again.”
This a dramatic example of unintentional self hypnosis. The trauma had put Jane in an altered state of consciousness much like what we commonly think of as hypnosis, and her unconscious mind had taken her suggestion to herself both literally and figuratively.
There is a simple technique from NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) to eliminate a phobia, that works very well for releasing the responses to traumatic memories as well. It involves the person watching the memories of the traumatic event rapidly running backwards repeatedly. Running memories backwards tend to scramble the brain's associations to the original fears or other traumatic emotions. The result is that the memories become emotionally neutral. Jane naturally slipped into a light state of hypnosis as she ran her memories backwards, and that allowed her to something extraordinary.
Once she ran those memories backwards, Jane was able to hold her host's cat in her arms. It was the first time that she had been able to get close to a cat in years.
Of course, not all allergies start with a trauma, which is the reason that multiple hypnosis techniques and approaches have been developed. A hypnotherapist who is skilled in NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis will be able to create a unique approach for a client when the need arises.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
How to Spot Hidden Hypnotic Commands in Advertising
It is really easy to notice hidden hypnotic commands in advertising if you know just what to look or listen for.
A simple example is a print ad for a plumber in the phone directory. At the bottom of the add there will be a phone number and the command “call now” in bold and/or larger print.
In advertising this is called a “call to action.” research and long experience has shown that ads with a call to action get higher response rates than ads that do not. The larger, bolder print calls attention to itself by being different from the rest of the copy in the ad, and it is obviously a command.
What makes this “hypnotic”? In normal conversation it is common to emphasize certain words or phrases to make the message more urgent, or even change the meaning.
For example:
“Did YOU do that?”
Is different than,
“Did you do THAT?”
Hypnotherapists have found that it is possible to bury a second message inside of normal conversation by emphasizing certain words or phrases to communicate the second message to the other person's unconscious mind. The unconscious mind notices the different emphasis which marks out a second message even though the conscious mind does not.
In NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) the buried messages are called “embedded commands.” And, although not everyone has heard of NLP, marketers, sales people, and advertising agencies are very much aware of how to use the principles of NLP to increase the effectiveness of advertising.
In radio and television commercials, you may notice that certain words are louder, or emphasized in some way. “Call Now” “Come on buy for great savings.”
I wonder now if it might be fun for you to occasionally listen closely for embedded commands in commercials. When you are consciously aware of them, you will most certainly have more choice over how they influence you.
Want to know more about embedded commands? Take a look at my last blog post: "How to Use Hidden Hypnotic Commands in Normal Conversation".
A simple example is a print ad for a plumber in the phone directory. At the bottom of the add there will be a phone number and the command “call now” in bold and/or larger print.
In advertising this is called a “call to action.” research and long experience has shown that ads with a call to action get higher response rates than ads that do not. The larger, bolder print calls attention to itself by being different from the rest of the copy in the ad, and it is obviously a command.
What makes this “hypnotic”? In normal conversation it is common to emphasize certain words or phrases to make the message more urgent, or even change the meaning.
For example:
“Did YOU do that?”
Is different than,
“Did you do THAT?”
Hypnotherapists have found that it is possible to bury a second message inside of normal conversation by emphasizing certain words or phrases to communicate the second message to the other person's unconscious mind. The unconscious mind notices the different emphasis which marks out a second message even though the conscious mind does not.
In NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) the buried messages are called “embedded commands.” And, although not everyone has heard of NLP, marketers, sales people, and advertising agencies are very much aware of how to use the principles of NLP to increase the effectiveness of advertising.
In radio and television commercials, you may notice that certain words are louder, or emphasized in some way. “Call Now” “Come on buy for great savings.”
I wonder now if it might be fun for you to occasionally listen closely for embedded commands in commercials. When you are consciously aware of them, you will most certainly have more choice over how they influence you.
Want to know more about embedded commands? Take a look at my last blog post: "How to Use Hidden Hypnotic Commands in Normal Conversation".
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